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description=Steve DeRoy is a cartographer and a co-founder of the Indigenous Mapping Collective. Scott Neigh interviews him about the importance of mapping and about the collective’s work to build Indigenous peoples’ capacity to, as their website puts it, “map their lands, share their stories, and decolonize place and space.” Colonization is, to a great extent, about land. On one level,;

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decolonizing and indigenizing the map the media co op jump to navigation the media co op burger home donate subscribe about us join us overview board and editors history structure co op documents submissions how to pitch contributors guidelines editorial policy small logo main menu donate subscribe about us join us overview board and editors history structure co op documents submissions how to pitch contributors guidelines editorial policy search form search twitter and fb donate subscribe about us submissions decolonizing and indigenizing the map indigenous jan 10 2023 decolonizing and indigenizing the map talking radical radio by scott neigh audio source decolonizing and indigenizing the map by scott neigh talking radical radio steve deroy is a cartographer and a co founder of the indigenous mapping collective scott neigh interviews him about the importance of mapping and about the collective s work to build indigenous peoples capacity to as their website puts it map their lands share their stories and decolonize place and space colonization is to a great extent about land on one level it is about taking control of land but is also about defining land in particular defining it as property about imposing colonial names on the land and about determining which stories of the land are elevated and which are suppressed one tool which european empires and settler states have historically employed as they have done all of these things is mapping or cartography the dominant modern practices of which emerged in conjunction with colonization deroy said maps are not necessarily a passive tool they ve been used to assert power over territory although maps can be used as a communication tool the underlying notion is an exertion of power and knowledge but indigenous peoples have always had their own practices of mapping their territories and of course their own names for stories of and practices of being in relation with the land indigenous peoples today are not only asserting that these things have survived the last five centuries of colonial violence but are making very clear that today these must be central to what happens on the land and mapping is one tool that they are using to do this steve deroy is anishinaabe from the buffalo clan from ebb and flow and lake manitoba first nations in treaty two territory in manitoba a survivor of the sixties scoop he grew up in southern ontario as for cartography he said i kind of fell into it as a student he loved both art and science and when a neighbour who worked with it showed him the kind of mapping software that gets described as a geographic information system gis he loved it for its capacity to combine scientific analysis with amazing aesthetics and during his time studying cartography in college he met someone from a northern first nation who talked about the ways in which his community was using maps to do things like document community knowledge and community land use activities as part of processes related to forestry development in their territories deroy said i just thought wow what a creative way to use maps and tell a story and so for the first decade of my career i really surrounded myself with people that were much smarter than me that were doing this kind of work and that were involved in using maps to communicate defend and articulate the rights of indigenous peoples through maps then in 2009 he and some friends came together to co found the firelight group an indigenous owned consulting company that works with indigenous communities in environmental impact assessments government regulatory processes and a range of other policy planning and research work their goal is to put indigenous communities in the driver s seat in research and planning activities they would be the ones that would be defining what the research would look like while the firelight group provides support he observed the legacy of research in many indigenous communities has been somewhat of an extractive process so we wanted to change that in the early 2000s deroy had been part of organizing a gathering which had brought indigenous people together to talk about how their communities were using and could use mapping and even years later it still seemed like a very relevant conversation a little more than a decade after that he was at an event hosted by google to help people learn how to use some of the company s mapping related tools and inspiration hit why not bring indigenous participants together in an event that combines conversation about ways that different indigenous communities make use of mapping with hands on opportunities for participants to learn how to use the tools to do those things the first indigenous mapping workshop happened in victoria in 2014 this now annual event eventually spawned the indigenous mapping collective and remains a centrepiece of the collective s work deroy said we brought indigenous peoples together from all over turtle island to come together to network and see each other and hear each other and make those connections and develop those synergies amongst one another people are working in these spaces often in isolation in their own home communities and they come together and they realize they re not the only ones out there doing this type of work and that there s other people other folks that are are dealing with similar challenges he is constantly impressed with the range of ways that indigenous communities find to make use of mapping technologies many of course are using them to intervene in processes related to resource extraction or state regulation on their lands others are using mobile mapping tools to monitor and document how climate change is impacting their territories some are using digital mapping tools as part of sharing knowledge and teachings across generations some are using them to understand and visualize the cumulative effects of all of the many disparate colonial impacts on their territory and the resulting implications for their ability to exercise their rights and there are lots of other examples the cartographer the ones that are holding the pen really wield great power to define place and space and we ve seen that over time here in canada with colonization by consciously excluding indigenous peoples from the map it reinforced the idea that no one was here and it could be colonized by foreign interests so a lot of our work is really about how do we enable indigenous peoples to be able to use maps to decolonize and while decolonizing the map indigenous peoples are now in a position of indigenizing the map and telling stories of their rights and interests how they might be able to protect those ongoing aboriginal and treaty rights those constitutionally protected rights but also how do they assert and acknowledge those rights and ensure those rights are being enforced he said that these decolonized and indigenized approaches to making and using maps are challenging the historical devaluation of indigenous knowledge and combining western and indigenous ways of understanding the world we re seeing the braiding of these two different knowledge sets and giving weight to each of them is equally important but also recognizing that there s value to that indigenous way of doing research the collective also hosts a monthly speaker series and maintains an online platform with a range of resources and tools for its nearly 2500 members and crucially the collective and its various events are a way for indigenous communities to let the companies that make digital mapping tools know what they want what they need and what they expect as the technology evolves i think that there s real value in indigenous peoples leading their own engagements and being a part of that research and applying these maps and tools deroy continued i think indigenous peoples are reasserting their voice by holding the pen and being able to define their own processes through maps and by having all the necessary data to weigh the pros and cons of particular issues i think it enables indigenous peoples to be the drivers of their own destinies and so i think indigenous mapping plays an important role for helping indigenous communities define what that looks like and for being able to communicate those interests and desires and those perspectives please read about the big changes coming for talking radical radio in 2023 talking radical radio brings you grassroots voices from across canada giving you the chance to hear many different people that are facing many different struggles talk about what they do why they do it and how they do it in the belief that such listening is a crucial step in strengthening all of our efforts to change the world to learn more about the show check out our website here you can also follow us on facebook or twitter or contact scottneigh talkingradical ca to join our weekly email update list talking radical radio is brought to you by scott neigh a writer media producer and activist based in hamilton ontario and the author of two books examining canadian history through the stories of activists image used with permission of the indigenous mapping collective theme music it is the hour get up by snowflake via ccmixter the media co op login create account contact info at mediacoop ca archives